How to Build a Sod House

My literacy class is doing a novel study on Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLaughlan. In addition to reading this novel, we're learning about prairie life in the 1800's. We talked about the westward expansion, mail-order brides, housing, wilderness survival and more.

We recently focused on housing, mainly two common types of prairie housing - log house and sod house. In class we're making dioramas and models of the prairie life which we will showcase to the rest of the school at the end of the month, check out our construction of the sod house!

I got the sod grass for FREE by contacting a local sod grass grower/seller. I got about six rolls which was more than enough!

The Making of the Sod House

Materials Needed:

- Sod Grass (at least 2 rolls)

- Adult Scissors

- Couple box of toothpicks

- Tub of water

- Cardboard

- Sticks of wood (found outside)

- Wide popsicle sticks

- Hot Glue Gun

- Brown Paint (optional to paint the outhouse)

Procedure and photographs coming soon!

Change It Up With Math Graffiti!

I don't know about you but when I think of math worksheets my initial reaction is ugh... worksheets. My students aren't excited about worksheets either but we got to practice our math somehow right?

Today out of the blue I decide to change things up a little bit... instead of practicing the order of operations on worksheets, we're going to do it graffiti style.

All you need is large black butcher paper and chalk. Students will do the rest. This was a big hit.

Simple DIY Calendar

Dry-Erase Calendar

Some time ago I created a really cool calendar for my classroom. The problem with buying the pre-made calendars where you can velcro on the days is that you can't write down special events, student's birthday, state testing window and so on. Plus I wanted something practical that the students and I can use for middle school. 

So… I bought a decent size dry-erase white board from Target, two rolls of Washi tape and created this! 

I measured my board longest side first and divide it by 7 (obviously for seven days in the week) and then went back and mark the measurements on the board with dry-erase marker. Then I created a two-inch space on the top straight across to write Sunday-Saturday. After that, I again measured from that line to the bottom of the board and divide it by 5 (for the weeks) and marked the increments with the dry-erase markers. 

Simple! 

Voila!

Classroom Library Overhaul

I've accumulated a large number of books in a short time… 90% of my books were FREE from Scholastic Book order points and donations! Now I needed to come up with a system to organize my library! My books at the time are organized by author's last name.

The Library Dilemma: 

I strongly encourage my students to read for enjoyment by choosing their own books. In the real world, readers have a favorite genre. We can go in the library or the store and find a book we want in the genre section… like mystery… science fiction… traveling… cooking… or poetry. But when you have a library like this where every genre is mixed in, how can you find the next book to read when the mood strikes to read a dystopian novel?

This is the 'before' picture of what 

my library looked like… 

The Overhaul

I did some browsing online… many teachers opt for organizing books by baskets or bins. The problem with this is that I didn't have the space for all the bins and I felt it encourage students to pick books by its cover. I wanted something that's more authentic for middle school and practical especially now that CCSS is pushing for more literature skills that incorporate analyzing different types of genre and incorporating them into writing. So another teacher inspired me to color-code my library…(idea is credited to Lessons with Laughter)

I modified the labels idea so it would fit my vision… instead of color-coding books by author's last name to help students put the books back where they belong (like how the teacher used her color-code labels), I color-code my books by genre!

I also saved $ by creating the color-code labels myself at home using Avery 8160 labels. I picked the colors I wanted and printed the entire sheet in each color. Then I would stick the labels on the books.

Color-Coding the Books by Genre

I chose 10 genres and designate each a color…

1. Autobiography & Biography
2. Realistic Fiction
3. Historical Fiction
4. Mysteries
5. Science Fiction
6. Fantasy
7. Traditional Literature (i.e. folklore, mythology, fables, classics, etc.)
8. Poetry
9. Graphic Novel
10. Informational (non-fiction)

I created and laminated the color-code genre sign, "Navigating the Library by Genre" and displayed it next to the book shelf for the students to refer to.

The Final Step - Leveling the Books

Any classroom library should have some kind of leveling system to help readers choose books and teachers to recommend books. So I used Avery 8160 template to create simple leveling labels that goes on the inside of the book cover.

I used arbookfind.com and Scholastic Book Wizard at scholastic.com to level my books. I recommend that you level label and color-code at the same time, much quicker that way! Scholastic Book Wizard will also show the book's genre.

You can download the template I created for labeling your books at my TpT store for free!

The Final Touch 

Majority of my students are Deaf/Hard-of-hearing, CODA or SODA… so I added special labels for books that features those characters.

Ta Da!

How my library look now!